No More Whole Paycheck: Whole Foods' Prices Are About To Get Cheaper—Really Soon

Today Amazon and Whole Foods announced that the acquisition of the grocer by the online retailer will close on Monday, August 28, and that shoppers will start to see changes—in the form of lower prices—immediately.

Yes, you read that right: Starting this Monday, Whole Foods will be offering lower prices "on a selection of best-selling grocery staples across its stores, with more to come," a joint press release stated. It's a "down payment" on the two companies' plans to make the grocer's high quality products more accessible to everyone.

"We're determined to make healthy and organic food affordable for everyone. Everybody should be able to eat Whole Foods Market quality — we will lower prices without compromising Whole Foods Market's long-held commitment to the highest standards," said Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Consumer. "To get started, we're going to lower prices beginning Monday on a selection of best-selling grocery staples."

"And this is just the beginning," Wilke continues. "We will make Amazon Prime the customer rewards program at Whole Foods Market and continuously lower prices as we invent together. There is significant work and opportunity ahead, and we're thrilled to get started." The Prime integration is set to happen after some technical work is complete, and will offer Prime members special savings and other in-store benefits.